Why Hindus give bath to idols with milk? I’d like to hear from you.
The exact same reason why you spend $3000 in flying to Saudi Arabia in hordes to circle a balck stone, and throw 7 tiny pebbles at a pit. As an addtiional incentive you get peridocially killed in hordes doing the same.
Why Hindus give bath to idols with milk? I’d like to hear from you. <<
Because it is far less obnoxious than measuring people’s beards, shaving football player’s heads for wearing shots etc.,
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Suddram and Andhra,
Stick with the topic. I am asking answer ! Forget about religion Islam. Tell us about your religion.
There should be logic if is any?
It is an expression of devotion. It is not necessarily Milk. It could be any mixture fragrant and sweet like coconut water, honey , banana slices mix etc.,
Or in case of Shiva just water with ‘Tulasi’ leaves. Good medicine by the way.
Also it is not just HIndus. Jains do it as well. THey have this statue down in Karnataka(Sravana Belagola). It is the tallest monolithic statue in the WOrld or something.
They go on a Helicopter and pour lotsa milk over the statue of GOmateswara.
Thanks for explanation Andhra
Andhra & others,
Is everyone mandatory to do this ritual or just the few who can afford? As there are people who can't afford Milk for themselves.
Na. No mandatory rituals except birth, marriage and death in HInduim.
Infact, this particular ritual is a kind of 'Mela'!! Everybody comes!! Mostly Hindus I guess. Jains are a miniscule minority in India though stinking rich!!
http://www.templenet.com/Karnataka/sravana.html
Check out the site. The statue is really awesome!!
This is one of the most popular Jain pilgrimage center in South India, an is known for its collossal monolithic statue of Gomateswara, on top of a hill. Sravanbelagola is at a distance of 93km from Mysore. The nearest railhead is Hassan (49km). Belur is at a distance of 86 km from here. The Karnataka State Tourism Office, organizes day trips which cover Sravanabelagola, Halebidu and Belur in a single day.
The temple to Gomateswara is built on top of a hill, in between two hills - at a height of 3000 feet above sea level. A flight of 500 steps provides access to this temple. Views of the neighborhood from the top of the hill are spectacular.
The image of Gomateswara is an awe inspiring one. Carved out of a single block of granite, this 50 feet high statue, stands majestically on top of the hill. This image was created during the period of Chamundaraya, a minister of the Ganga King Rajamalla.
The neighboring area abounds in Jaina bastis and several images of the Jaina Theerthankaras.
Festivals: The Mahamastakabhishekam festival is held once in 12 years, when the image of Gomateswara is bathed in
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*No mandatory rituals except birth, marriage and death in HInduim.
*
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How can you say that it is a Hindu belief?
What is your proof that Hinduism preaches that?
On what grounds or what fundamentals does this belief stand on?
Which Holy Scripture describes these birth, marriage death are mandatory? Where? When?
Which of the Avatars preached this sermon? Source? Links?
Ahmedjee, I am giving HInduism as I have lived it and seen it being practiced.
The occassions I gave are the only ones when you can be sure a HIndu will go for a REligious ceremnoy.
Otherwise, he could have 'Pooja' in his house every day and some people do, but you can never be sure!!
As for scriptures, no doubt there are rules and regulations, but I am not aware of anybody taking them seriously.
Like HIndus don't go around referring to Bhagavd Gita on significant occassions, like Muslims go check witrh Koran and see if it violates anything.
It is more like common rituals really.
Ahmadjee,
There is a difference in the ways that Hinduism is practiced. We follow things which are being practised by the elders. We do not refer to the scriptures every now and then for doubts.
Coming to the topic, when I had asked one of my grandpa, he told me a significance of the ritual.
Many times, the the "Shiv Lingam's" or "Salagramam's" are made up of special Stones, which are brought from the Himalayas and other mountains.
The milk or honey etc, which is used for the bathing of the idols is done as a mark of worship to the diety. That is then distributed as "Theertham" (holy water).
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u tell me a miracle that has happened in hinduism? what proof do u have that it exists? now if u ask about Islam i can give plenty.
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Note from moderator: Please watch your language.**
[This message has been edited by Sentinel (edited March 02, 2002).]
Saima my little gem,you wouldn't scare my dog to shut up with mentally imbecile outbursts. Please do clarify if the customs I have posted as a part of the Haj exist or not.
Pak. tiger,the way the question was put up,I thought the only intention of the author was to defame hinduism. If I have gotten it wrong, I have no qualms about apologizing. Sorry.
There was a post about mandatory rituals. There are different sects in hinduism each with their rituals but the rituals following birth,death and Marriage are most important to all sects. Infact hinduism stresses the importance of rituals for the dead,as we beilieve in life after death. The ceremonies are believed to take care of the dead's well being in their after life. The concept of a soul entering another life form is the basis of hinduism. I think the clearest exposition of life after death comes from Adi Sankara's adwaitha.
About "bathing" idols in milk, I shall quote the gita in trying to explain it. The gita is a revelation by Lord Krishna and hence I take it as the most authentic. The lord says that there are 4 ways to attain the pleasure of god--Bakthi(servile devotion),Gyana(seeking knowledge),karma(ceaselessly indulging in one's duty) and kama(physical love of god). The "bathing" of idols is the first path,its the devotee's way of pleasing the lord for all his bounties. The rest of the 3 ways implicitly and explicitly mean that you don't need to be servile to god to attain his pleasure. Never think about him but if you aggressively pursue knowledge or go about your duty ceaselessly, you would still attain him. I think this message is lost in the tirelss quest of the masses to make hindusim purely ritualistic. By extension of the same axiom, there is NO mandatory rituals the masses need perform unless you have chosen the path of bakthi. Infact hindusim is full of incidents where the most humble in seeking knowledge(kuchela,gyanasambandar,thirunavukarasar to the knowlegeble) and people dutifully engaged in their daily livelyhood with compassion to their fellow being(kannapa nayanar,Avvayar) have been handsomely rewarded by the god almighty.
I'll post more if there are further sensible questions.
first of all i wud like to praise Saima Iqbal and all other Muslim brothers and sisters!
right well i wanna say that i think SI asked 4 u guys to tell us abt sum miracles by i aint expecting nothing cos hindism is a religion which has no basis, so wake up u kafirs!!!!!!!
by the way andhra sed the mahamastakabhishekam festival is held once in 12 years, when the image of Gomateswara is bathed in
how UNCLEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i bet your regretting saying that!!!!!!
well let me tell ya this is just the start if you dis Islam us Muslims r gonna dis ya mega!
786,
may I know what the "hundreds" of miracles in Islam are?? Now a guy in my group is working out an authentic method to prove that the force between 2 charges varies inversely as the EXACT square of the distance between them, a fact established by faraday in 1840 and included today even in secondary school textbooks. When he tries to publish with solid verifiable experimental data, a billion questions are raised by the journals. Thats how tough it is prove things scientifically.
To the best of my knowledge,no miracle claimer from any religion has ever published a shred of verifiable evidence to any neutral body to support his pompous claims. Its a pure matter of faith. If you choose to you can see a miracle but that doesn't mean one actually exists for all to see.
Besides,in my opinion miracles demean religion. If you see god as a miracle worker like a trickster magician, that's no basis for a religion.If miracles are what you are looking for in Hindusim, I am proud to say that there is none.
I won't retaliate with regards to the gomateshwara idol but do you seriously think its so freaking hard for me to up with similar forceful counters from Islam????Grow up dude!!!!!
"There is a difference in the ways that Hinduism is practiced. We follow things which are being practised by the elders. We do not refer to the scriptures every now and then for doubts"
And how exactly do you know the elders are practicing correctly, it seems illogical simply to follow elders and not have a basis of consultation which has stood the test of time ie; the Koran.
And sundaram from a neutrals point of view you are a larger imbecile as you quickly jumped to conclusion about this thread without probing the questions asked, so before you lament others take the bone out of your mouth!
parlimas,
get off your non-existent high pink donkey of superior judgement. You would ride a high horse for a change, if you have the grace to accept a candid apology. The post from saima was explicitly rude to me as an individual. I would not have passed comments against an individual if not for that.
About listening to elders and not following a single source that has "stood the test of time" let me say that any rituals can be verified at any time from the Vedas. The implicit veracity of what is being told is assumed. That does not mean we do not have a source to verify the same. So don't get too confused in somehow trying to score points for Islam.
different religens express their devotion
differently. in shia sect they self-flagellate until they bleed. some hindus
walk on hot coals and put nails across the toungue. as long as the devotion does not
hurt yourself and others who can question
what kind of devotion is right one.